Prumper & Vogel take German Indoor titles

At the weekend of 16th to 17th March 2013, the 2013 German TC Championship took place in Geilenkirchen and Marco Kaufmann penned this report. To get some track time prior the race on the small and technical high demanding track and to compensate the home advantage of many drivers the Team Xray Germany already traveled on Thursday. After the first practice we were working on the setup. The T4 worked perfectly, so I was able to get 3rd position on the grid for the A-Mains. The latitude of the track was so tight at some sections, that it was difficult to overtake another driver side by side and also in an accurate way. So you had to wait until the driver in front of you made a mistake.

In the first A-main, after a crash of the leaders Yannic Prümper and Marc Fischer, I had the chance to pass these two drivers and leave them behind. After a few laps, I had created a small gap between me and the two. So I finished in front and had a victory in the first A-Main. Yannic Prümper finished second.

In the following second A-Main, it becomes very exciting again. From the start, Yannic Prümper, Marc Fischer, me and Chrisi Krapp drove together very closely. It developed into a fight between these three drivers and me, but nobody had a chance to overtake someone. Not until Marc Fischer made a mistake in the end. Yannic won this second final and I reached the second place in the ranking. So we both, Yannic and me, had a second place and a victory in this two A-Mains..

The third A-Main was the deciding one. At the start I had a small collision with Marc Fischer and found myself at the end of the pack. Yannic Prümper won this last A-Main and achieved the title of the German Champion.

In the Sport class (13.5T no boost), Xray/SMI Germany had a great start. 4 out of 5 of qualifiers were won by the team. Tobias Vogel took the TQ honors with 3 out of 5 and Valentin Hettrich, after initially having some setup difficulties on the very tight and technical track, took the 5th round. Tobias started from the first position on the grid, Valentin Hettrich 3rd and fast Tobias Hepp started 5th which is a fantastic result considering the very special track and the local drivers having quite an advantage from practicing and testing on the track upfront.

The first A-main was a battle between Tobias and Valentin. They early on built up a very big lead and could fight between themselves for the top position. Tobias was in the lead until he made a slight error and Valentin was directly there to take the opportunity to overtake. The remaining couple of minutes there was a close fight. Tobias pushed really hard for the win and made a spectacular pass at the last corner before the finishing line and took the win with Valentin finishing 2nd.

The second main was almost a copy of the first one, initially. Tobias and Valentin again got away from the line like rockets and pulled out a 5 sec lead. Valentin got closer to Tobias after the 5 minute mark (Sport class mains runs 7min) and tried to pass Tobias. Unfortunately Valentin slightly touched Tobias, making Tobias‘ car roll and land of the roof. Valentin waited for Tobias and track marshal to turn the car back on wheels and the 5 sec lead disappeared. The last 2 minutes was again an open race as Valentin now was in the lead and Tobias only 3rd. At the end Valentin got 2nd and Tobias finished 4th.

The 3rd final was a demonstration of concentration from Tobias. He took the lead right from the start and kept 0.5-1.0 sec lead for the first 6:30 without making any mistake. After 6:30 the 2nd placed driver made a mistake when trying to close the gap to Tobias and Tobias cruised for the victory in this main race and also the overall victory.